SB sz/ 

.7 



p 



VICTORY GARDENS FEED 
THE HUNGRY 

The Need* of Peace Demand the Increased Production of Food 
in America's Victory Gardens 



BY CHARLES LATHROP PACK 

President of the National War Garden Committion 
Washin^on, D. C. 







Tne Seeds ?^ Victory 
Insure the Fruits ^ Peace 



CapyriKlit 1919 »>y _ 

National War Cardan CammtHlon. 



FP 



VICTORY GARDENS FEED THE HUNGRY 



BY CHARLES LATHROP PACK 



PREVENTION of wide spread 
starvation is the peace-time ob- 
ligation of the United States. 
To say that peace hath its food prob- 
lems no less than war faintly ex- 
presses the condition with which this 
country and Europe are now com- 
pelled to reckon. Grave as it was 
during four years of war, the food 
situation is now more serious still. 
The advent of peace not only brought 
nothing to help give relief but actu- 
ally increased the dread danger of 
starvation for Europe's millions. In- 
stead of being improved the world- 
food problem is now worse than at 
any time during the great conflict. 

Chief among the nations which 
must look to America for food are 
France and Belgium. It 
Post 'War is true that we had to 
Needs victual those countries 

during the war, but 
they were a France and Belgium 
greatly reduced in area because of 
German invasion. Much of their 
territory and millions of their peo- 
ple were held by the enemy, shut 
oflF from their own countries and 
therefore compelled to depend in part 
on the invaders for subsistence. 
Today these people are repatriated. 
Their restoration to citizenship has 
brought the obligation to feed them. 
While the direct burden falls on 
France and Belgium, tjiese countries 



must look to America for ways and 
means. By all the ties of interna- 
tional friendship, by a sense of grati- 
tude for the part these countries 
played in winning the war, by geo- 
graphical location and by inherent 
capacity to provide food, America is 
the one country able to meet the call. 
France and Belgium provide but a 
part of our responsibility. The food 

situation throughout 
Millions Europe is highly 

are Hungry complicated. The 

territory capable of 
being self-sustaining for the next 
few months is extremely small. Aside 
from Hungary, Denmark and South 
Russia, no nation in Europe can pass 
through the immediate future without 
imports on a large scale. At the close 
of the war we were already feeding 
France, Belgium, England and Italy, 
with their aggregate of 125,000,000 
people. This must continue. We must 
also provide for the smaller allied 
nations which have been un- 
der German oppression — Serbia, 
Rumania, Greece, the Czechs, the 
Jugoslavs and others. In these groups 
and in repatriated Belgium and 
France we have an aggregate of 
75,000,000 people for whom we are 
largely responsible. In the neutral 
states of Europe 40,000,000 people 
must be kept from hunger and in 
North Russia 50,000,000 more. The 



JAN 24 1919 



[C)r.\ A n 1 !M;,: G 



.1=3 



northern part of Russia is in serious 
straits. The break-down of transpor- 
tation facilities, combined with the 
reign of anarchy, makes this one of 
the most grievous problems of Eu- 
rope. That these needs must be met 
is dictated by the American con- 
science. That they will be met is 
assured by the American spirit. 

The food supply for all Europe 
must, to a large extent come from 

America for a consider- 
We Must ^^^^ period. Increased 
Feed food production during 

Europe *^^ ^^^^ year of peace is 

impossible for Europe 
itself. Readjustment and some meas- 
ure of reconstruction must take place 
before there can be any important 
contribution to the world's food 




VICTORY GARDENS MUST HELP FEED 
THE WORLD 

supply on the part of the countries 
exhausted by four years of warfare. 
America cannot forget the horrors 
of war as practiced by the Germans. 
We cannot forget the robbery of food 
from the helpless, the wholesale and 
piratical destruction of millions of 
tons at sea nor the wretched plight of 



the millions of people who have suf- 
fered under German domination dur- 
ing the last few years. 

America must meet the situation 
with the same spirit of determined 

support given the prose- 
Must cution of the war. As 

Prevent ^^^ "i^" best posted on 
Anarchy the food problems of 

Europe, Food Adminis- 
trator Hoover has made this signifi- 
cant statement of fact: 

Our object in the overthrow of all autocracies 
in Europe and the establishment of government 
by the people is but part of our great burden, 
for beyond this, when these immediate objects 
are attained, we still have before us the greatest 
problem that our Government has ever faced 
if we are to prevent Europe's immolation in a 
conflagration of anarchy such as Russia is 
plunged in today. 

To realize the needs of Europe it 
is not necessary to consider the imme- 
diate requirements of the enemy na- 
tions. With peace comes the letting 
down of war-made barriers which 
have for several years prevented ship- 
ments of food supplies to Rumania, 
Serbia, European Russia, Poland, Ar- 
menia and others who now lack ade- 
quate provisions. Some of these 
countries are near starvation. As 
food was vital to the winning of the 
war it is now vital to reconstruction. 
The starvation which prevailed dur- 
ing the conflict was secondary to the 
waging of battle. Today the world 
realizes that no real and lasting peace 
can be made until the food problem is 
solved. There will have to be a vast 
machinery of distribution to penetrate 
throughout Europe and this ma- 
chinery must be backed up by in- 
creased organization for production 
and conservation. The need for the 
elimination of waste was never so 
great as today. This waste applies 
as much to the resources of the soil 
as to food stores themselves. The 



War Gardens 
Become 
Victory 
Gardens 



stigma attached to idle land is greater 
now than it was in 1918. The untilled 
acre, the uncultivated vacant lot, the 
unemployed backyard was never so 
truly "Slacker Land" as at the pres- 
ent time. 

This means that the WarTiarden of 
1918 must become the Victory Gar- 
den of 1919. In 
more literal sense 
than ever before, 
America is the 
"granary of the 
nations." No one of 
our allies was self-supporting before 
the war, and each became less able 
to produce food as the war went on. 
Thousands of acres of the best farm 
lands in France and Italy, and prac- 
tically all of Belgium, are war-devas- 
tated and unfit for cultivation. In 
addition, the areas which have not 
been touched by war have become 
steadily poorer through unskilled 
handling and the shortage of fer- 
tilizers. America alone can produce 
more food than it did before. There- 
fore the task of keeping Europe in 
bread is peculiarly our own. 




UNCLE SAM HAS PUT OUT THE 
NOW CLINCH THE VICTORY 



FIRE. 



Our harvest season has come and 
gone and whatever food is exported 
must come from our surplus and from 
our savings, very largely the latter. 
Certain foods such as meats, fats and 
dairy products, it is true, are pro- 
duced throughout the year, but even 
these depend largely on feeds and 
fodder, supplies of which are limited 
and cannot be replenished until an- 
other harvest. 

The original pledge made by the 
United States was 17,500,000 tons of 
food to be shipped overseas by July 1, 
1919. This amount of food is 50 per 
cent, greater than the year before. 
With Belgium and France liberated 
and millions in south central Europe 
clamoring for food, the United States 
is now undertaking to increase its 
exports from 17,500,000 to 20,000,000 
tons. The Mediterranean route is 
now sufficiently safe for bringing 
wheat from India and Australia, 
hence our exports will consist largely 
of fats, meats and feed. Feed is es- 
sential for milk production of which 
the stricken nations are in dire need. 

We can export, together with other 
surplus countries, an apparent suffi- 
ciency of the coarse 
Increased grains for feeding pur- 
Exports poses, such as oats, bar- 
ley and com. On the 
other hand there is a world short- 
age of high protein feeds, such 
as the wheat feeds and the seed 
and bean meals, upon which the dairy 
production of the world, particularly 
of Europe, so considerably depends. 

This world fat shortage is due pri- 
marily to the fact that Europe has 
been steadily under-feeding its dairy 
herd and has made steady inroads 



into its herd of hogs during the war 
and to the fact that there has been a 
great degeneration in the production 
of vegetable oils in certain regions, 
owing to the inability to secure ship- 
ping. 

Of our export possibilities in fats, 
the largest item is pork products. 
Here again we have a 
Production right to congratulate 
Must Grow ourselves as to the 
policies pursued in 
the administration of food supplies in 
the United States by the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture and the Food 
Administration. If you consider 
that we have reasonable promise 
of ability, through increased produc- 
tion and conservation, to export seven 
times as much products as our pre- 
war contribution in fats in this new 
v/ar against famine, we are justified 
today in our every act in the stimula- 
tion of production of this commodity. 
While we cannot supply the world's 
full deficiency we have ameliorated it 
enormously. 

To send twenty million tons of food 
to Europe is a big order but it will be 
filled ; there is no doubt of that. When 
the amount was fixed it was the result 
of careful study of the minimum needs 
of America's Allies and the neutrals 
who are dependent, necessarily, on 
this country for a large part of their 
food supply. Twenty million tons is 
not all they need but it is the least 
amount that will meet their require- 
ments. It was figured out that the 
American people, without any undue 
restrictions, without denying them- 
selves to the point of privation, could 
easily furnish this quantity. It would 
be well to make it greater if possible, 
for it would prevent that much more 



hunger, suffering and starvation in 
Europe and Asia. It will be impossi- 
ble to prevent a certain amount of 
starvation. This pitiful toll cannot be 
prevented. Before sufficient quantities 
of food can be supplied to them from 
the present diminished granaries of 
the world, thousands of wretched peo- 
ple who have been near the point of 
starvation for the past three or four 
years, will actually have died for lack 
of food. 




LET EVERYBODY WORK TO MAKE VICTORY 
GARDENS GROW 

To meet the demands for food 
America has two sources of st^)ply. 
Food can be raised only on the farms, 
by those who make a business of pro- 
duction, and on the lands of our cities, 
towns and villages. No other sources 
exist. The 40,000,000 acres of farm 
land under cultivation have already 
probably reached their maximum of 
possible production for the immediate 
present. It is obvious, therefore, that 
if we are to give the world more food 
the new supply which will make this 
possible must come from the only 
source — the small gardens in our 
urban and suburban communities. 



6 



The task of America is to reduce 
the world's suffering and death to a 
minimum. Conservation of food will 
help. But the big problem is to pro- 
duce. There can be no conservation 
when there is no production. The war 
gardeners of the United States have 
made a wonderful record during the 
past two years. They can always look 
back proudly to what they did in the 
way of increasing the nation's food 
supplies. 

Now they are called on for an even 
greater task. This phrase "an even 
greater task" is used advisedly. There 
are several reasons why it is true, why 
the Victory Gardeners of 1919, as the 
home food producers will be known, 
have their biggest year ahead. War 
gardening has been an evolution, a 
development. The War Garden was 
the chrysalis. The Victory Garden is 
the butterfly. 




ALL FOR ONE— ONE FOR ALL 
WORK TOGETHER TO PRODUCE FOOD 

Of the 20,000,000 families in Ameri- 
ca probably half live in cities, towns 
and villages where the majority can 
have victory gardens. This may be 
carried even further, with the state- 
ment that practically every one of 



these households may have a garden 
if full use is made of the vacant land 
in the various communities. With 
the home gardens producing to their 
maximum capacity and with this idle 
land converted into productive area, 
by the cultivation of individual and 
community gardens thereon, America 
has a potential capacity for food rais- 
ing which must be made to show tre- 
mendous worth in 1919. 

The area of these vacant lots in 
almost every city and town is amaz- 
ing. Two years of suc- 
Slacker cessful campaign for 
Land ^^^ gardens, by the 

Drafted National War Garden 
Commission, have dis- 
closed that this available land pos- 
sesses vast possibilities for food pro- 
duction if properly mobilized. There 
is probably no community in the 
United States which did not have at 
least 50 acres of unused slacker land 
within its borders before the war 
garden began to thrive. Many com- 
munities had much more than 50 acres 
and of this idle land it was recog- 
nized that a large proportion would 
produce vegetables in generous yield. 
When the available land in a single 
community is taken into considera- 
tion and the average multiplied by the 
thousands of communities in the 
United States the aggregate is im- 
pressive as to the nation's further 
capacity for food production. 

The year 1918 brought increasingly 
large response to the urgent demand 
that this slacker land be put to work. 
Backyard gardens and land previ- 
ously untilied yielded a food supply 
estimated by the National War Gar- 
den Commission, after careful survey, 



as having a market value of $520,000,- 
000. This yield w^as produced on 
5,285,000 war gardens. By enabling 
American households to feed them- 
selves this newly created source of 
supply was a real factor in making it 
possible for other food to be released 
for shipment to the American troops 
in Europe and to the people of the 
Allied nations. 

In spite of the fact that there was 
such marvelous response by the home 
food growers of the United States 
last year and that they rounded up 
the "slacker land" in fine shape, let- 
ting very little of it escape, it is be- 
lieved that there can be even greater 
results. This applies both to numbers 
and to average production. With the 
training and the experience they have 
gained during the past two years it 
is certain that a majority of the "city 
farmers" will be able to raise more 
beans and tomatoes and cabbage than 
they have heretofore. And as to the 
number of gardens, that figure, too, 
should be increased. All that is neces- 
sary is for the people of any particu- 




LET YOUR WAR GARDEN OF 1918 BECOME 
A VICTORY GARDEN IN 1919 



lar locality to say, "We had 5,000 
gardens last year ; we'll make it 8,000 
or 10,000 in 1919." Every community 
will doubtless find a certain number 
of lots which were not cultivated last 
year. There were some back yards 
and a few plots which escaped the 
general round-up. The thing to do is 
to get them all into the Victory Gar- 
den "draft" of 1919. If every city, 
town and village will make up its 
mind to work a little harder in 1919 
than in 1918, the thing will be done; 
and after it is over, the ease with 
which it was accomplished will sur- 
prise everybody. For instance, Bos- 
ton set out last year with the idea that 
it could reach a mark of at least 15,- 
000 war gardens. When the count 
was made it was found that there were 
more than 30,000. There were many 
similar experiences. That shows that 
any place can "surpass itself" if it 
determines to do so. 

It is obvious that 1919 must see 
not merely continuation but exten- 
sion of the abolition of 
Continue slacker land. Food sup- 
the Fight ' P^y ^- O. B. the kitchen 
door means more today 
than it has at any time in the 
past. To save transportation strain 
is as important in its way as 
to increase the nation's food sup- 
ply. All available transportation 
facilities within the country will be 
required to handle the traffic created 
by the return of peace. Merchandise 
needs in all lines have accumulated 
during the period of wartime concen- 
tration on munitions and food. To 
restore normal conditions and to re- 
plenish depleted stores and ware- 
houses will tax the transportation 



system to its utmost. This renders 
all the more imperative the need for 
food production at home, where it 
will not add to traffic congestion. 

It would be very easy to permit a 
let down in the days of victory. In 
fact there will be one. When the 
"shouting and tumult die," when the 
cannon have ceased to roar and when 
victor}-^ is assured, it is so easy to say : 
"Now we can rest; we have fought 
and won ; there is nothing more for 
us to do." 

There must be no slackening. Re- 
laxation may mean ruin. Much of 

the good that has been 
We Must brought may be lost; 
Not Relax indeed, worse days 

may come, days of 
world-wide pestilence, anarchy and 
social wreck if famine is allowed 
to sweep unchecked through the 
nations. That is why it is more 
important than ever to keep up the 
good work, to make the "Victory 
Gardens" of this year and the next 
and the next even more numerous, 
more flourishing, more helpful to this 
nation and to humanity as a whole, 




SAY TO YOURSELF: "ILL GROW A BEAN 
OR KNOW THE REASON WHY" 



than were the War Gardens of 1917 
and 1918. It can be done. I firmly 
believe that the American people can 
do greater things than they have ever 
done before. I am not mistaken 
about their character and their deter- 
mination. There were 5,285,000 War 
Gardens in 191 8. Why not make it 
10,000,000 in 1 91 9? Let us show the 
world that we are no "quitters" and 
that we do not surrender to the truth 
that it is harder to work for some- 
thing that seems to be accomplished 
than while the fight is on. 

The practical arguments for food 
production at home are various. Be- 
sides the satisfaction of having a 
plentiful supply of fresh vegetables, 
and the health-giving properties of this 
feature of the daily diet, it is of great 
importance to remember the profit to 
be derived in actual money value of 
the home crops. 

Compared to an acre of land 
worked by the usual farming methods 

the possibilities of 
The Profit ^^nd devoted to gar- 
is Very dening are suprising- 
Large ^Y large. It is a good 

acre, indeed, that will 
yield forty dollars worth of wheat, 
even when wheat sells at two dollars a 
bushel. Yet $600 is a small yield for 
land of equal fertility intensively cul- 
tivated and enriched. An acre of 
suitable vacant community land, di- 
vided into plots, and well cultivated, 
will easily produce this much. In the 
District of Columbia in 1918 official 
figures showed an average yield of 
$700 to the acre in nearly 2000 acres 
occupied by 29,200 war gardens. One 
of America's great tasks, therefore, is 
to further organize the slacker land 



of the nation and mobilize it into an 
active food producer. 

No other single business born of 
the war has affected a greater number 
of people than has gardening. Start- 
ing from a mere nothing before the 
United States entered the war, this 
form of service grew in less than two 
years into a new occupation, which 
counted its followers by the millions 
and, in the number of people employed, 
exceeded any other branch of gainful 
occupation, with the single exception 
of actual farming. 

The fact that such a vast number 
of American citizens took up this work 
shows that they appreciated the merit 
of it, and is one of the reasons for the 
confident prediction that gardening 
has come to stay. It is something that 
the world will not willingly let die. 
Home food production will continue 
because it has been found worth while, 
and, like other things which this war 
has proved to be of value and benefit 
of mankind, it will last. 

War gardening will permanently 
establish itself as Victory gardening 

because its peace-time 
Victory value will fully equal its 
Gardens war-time worth. This 
Needed ^^^^ ^^ *^"6 ^^ ^^^ times, 

but more particularly 
so during the first five or ten years of 
the great reconstruction period, for 
during that period the matter of food 
production will be of the most press- 
ing importance. It will be on a par 
with many of the other enormous re- 
construction problems that face the 
world. It will require the continued 
application of broad thought and ef- 
fort. There will be no decrease in 
the demand for food ; in fact that de- 



mand will really be greater, much 
greater, than it was during the days 
of actual conflict. 

Nor will this terrific demand for 
food be a matter of a season only. For 
years and years we must continue to 
supply unheard-of amounts of food. 
Indeed it would have been almost as 
easy to put Humpty Dumpty together 
again as it will be to restore the world's 
agriculture. The soil of thousands of 
acres has literally been blown away by 
high explosives. Practically all the 
lands in the embattled nations have de- 
creased in producing power through 
poor handling, neglect, and lack of 
fertilizers during the war. Of the 
host of farmers that toiled to feed 
Europe before the war, millions now 
lie beneath the soil they tilled, and 
other millions, maimed and crippled, 
can never again turn a ^urrow or har- 
ness a horse. Assuredly, agricultural 
production is not, like Aladdin's pal- 
ace, the growth of a night. Years 
must elapse before Europe's produc- 
tion is restored to normal. 




PAY HOMAGE TO INSURANCE AND INSURE 
YOUR OWN FOOD SUPPLY 



10 



Particularly must the American 
gardener keep up his work because 
the return of our soldiers 
Farm ^^ ^i^il life will not mean 
Labor ^"y great increase in the 
Scarce amount of farm labor 
available on American 
farms. The tendency away from the 
farms will not have been changed 
by military life, and it is not to 
be expected that there will be any 
great flocking back to the soil. It 
will not be possible therefore, to look 




NOBODY IS TOO^ FAT, TOO LEAN, TOO 

SHORT, TOO TALL, TO BE A 

VICTORY GARDENER 

for any large increase in the quantity 
of the food produced on the farms. 
On the other hand, broad plans are 
being made in the United States by 
the Department of the Interior to pro- 
vide land which can be reclaimed for 
settlement and use by the soldiers. 
This back-to-the-land movement is 
probably the biggest that has ever been 
attempted and, if it is carried out suc- 
cessfully, will add to the wealth of the 
country by putting to work much of 
its idle swamp, arid, and other waste 
land. It is figured that there are con- 
siderably more than 230,000,000 acres 
of unappropriated land which could be 



made to yield valuable crops; but 
years must elapse before this can be- 
come reality. 

In the meantime, this other back-to- 
the-land movement — that of war gar- 
dening — is an accom- 
Forward to plished fact. It was 
the Garden established simply 
and without any dis- 
turbance of existing social, political, 
or economic conditions. , For a dec- 
ade or two before the war, there 
was deep study and much discussion 
of the problem as to how to check the 
exodus from the farm to the city ; but 
argument and discussion availed noth- 
ing, and the exodus continued. In 
the "city farmer" has been found a 
partial answer to the stay-on-the- 
farm idea. Ambitious young men and 
women will not remain in the country 
where comforts are denied and where 
advantages of education and social life 
are few ; but they will be glad to farm 
in the city and the war garden has 
opened the way. By this means almost 
everyone becomes a food producer. 

Furthermore, increasing prices will 
make it desirable to the individual, and 
the growing demand for food will 
make it desirable from the country's 
point of view, that everyone help to 
feed himself. The readjustment which 
must come out of the war will call for 
powers as Herculean as those it has 
been necessary to put forth during the 
terrible struggle. This reconstruction 
work will call for every bit of man 
power that can be found. It will be a 
question not of months but of years 
before this upbuilding has been com- 
pleted. In France, Belgium, Poland, 
Italy, Russia and other European 
countries the rebuilding of cities and 



11 



churches, railroads and bridges, docks 
and roads, of houses and barns, the 
remaking of trench-scarred and shell- 
torn farms and many other big works, 
must be performed. So we can look 
for no huge immigration after the war 
to solve our labor problem, and that 
problem is acute. For, though there 
are no ruined cities to be rebuilt, or 
devastated farms to be restored in the 
United States, there are innumerable 
construction tasks to be done which 
have been put aside during the war. 

Thousands of miles of road — to 
mention a single task — will have to be 
completely rebuilt. The heavy motor 
truck as a means of transportation be- 
tween city and city has come to stay, 
and with it there must be a strengthen- 
ing of roads. This is one of the great 
tasks awaiting the returning army of 
men from the battlefield. The con- 
struction of new buildings in our cities 
which has been checked on account of 
war time need of material and men 
must be resumed and lost time made 
up. Cities will need many improve- 
ments which will keep the workers 
of the world busy. In these and a 
hundred other ways there will be 
steady call for the men released from 
strictly war work. Men can hardly 
be spared for agriculture. 

All these facts point to the increas- 
ing value of the Victory garden. It 
will be just as important a factor in 
the life of the nation and the communi- 
ty after the war as the War garden 
has been during the war. The need 
for gardens will last for many years ; 
and by that time, the value of garden- 
ing will be so apparent that the move- 
ment will continue indefinitely. It 
will have become a fixed habit and 



firmly implanted in the hearts and 
lives of the people of the country. 

Furthermore, gardening has been 
found to be a health measure. It has 

been used in the re- 
Gardening habilitation of con- 
is Healthful valesccnt soldiers. 

Around the hospitals 
in Europe, almost since the begin- 
ning of the war, vegetable plots 
have furnished the means for provid- 
ing easy and pleasant outdoor work 
for convalescents, which acted as a 
tonic to their shattered nerves and 
bodies. At the hospitals and army 
camps in the United States this form 
of activity was employed to help in 
the rebuilding of disabled and conva- 
lescing soldiers. 

In the great reconstruction work at 
the Walter Reed hospital, which lies 
in the outskirts of the Nation's capi- 
tal, a fifteen acre war garden proved 
of much therapeutic value in the 
treatment of men suffering from var- 
ious diseases. In addition to helping 
them to regain their health and 
strength, gardening is training these 
men for the future and equipping them 
to make their own living and become 




"YOU DON'T NEED MEDICINE. WHAT YOU 
NEED IS TO WORK IN THE GARDEN" 



12 



valuable citizens of any community 
after they are out of active service. 
Part of the large war garden at Camp 
Dix, N. ]., adjoins the base hospital; 
and potatoes and other vegetables were 
growing during the season of 19 [8 up 
to the very porches on which some of 
the invalids sat in their wheel chairs. 

Sailors as well as soldiers need fresh 
vegetables in their diet but they cannot 
grow vegetables at sea. To over- 
come this handicap a movement was 
started throughout the United King- 
dom to give naval men a supply of 
fresh vegetables whenever they get 
to port. Navy vegetable rations 
formerly consisted of potatoes only 

and a few dried or can- 
f ceding •^^^ products which can 
The Navy ^^ ^^P^ ^ lo"g" time and 

stored in small space. 
This British organization soon had 
eigh hundred branches and collecting 
depots throughout the United King- 
dom. Headquarters were established 
in London, with Admiral Lord Beres- 
ford as president. The patrons in- 
cluded many prominent people, but its 




MAKE THE MOST OF THE SUNSHINE AS 
A GARDEN HELPER 



members range from the owners of 
large estates, who contribute regular 
supplies weekly, to the small school- 
boy with only a ten- foot plot to cul- 
tivate. Long after the work got under 
way, 300,000 pounds of fresh vegeta- 
bles and fruits were being furnished 
weekly to the British navy. In speak- 
ing of this work and its value, Rear 
Admiral Lionel Halsey, third lord of 
the Admiralty, said: 

'•'Those associated with the Vege- 
table Products Committee can happily 
feel that this work is of priceless 
value, for without a vegetable food 
the men of the fleet could not have so 
thoroughly performed their work in 
the past; nor will they be able to do 
so in the future, without a continuance 
of the splendid work as efficiently and 
as generously as in the past. Its value 
may be realized when it is stated that 
these supplies are an invaluable fac- 
tor in keeping the men in good health 
and fitness." 

What is true in the case of the 
stalwart men of the British navy, is 
true of all other members of society, 
of high and low degree. There is need 
for vegetable food. The body is kept 
in better condition if it does not de- 
pend too largely on a meat diet. Vic- 
tory gardening will add greatly to the 
•proportion of greens which will enter 
into the diet of the American people. 

The future of Victory gardening, 
therefore, is assured. It is such an 
important economic 
Future gain, and its benefits in 

Gardens other ways are so nu- 
Assured merous, that the army 
of home food producers 
themselves will be its own strongest 
and most ardent champions. Both by 



13 



practice and by precept they will con- 
tinue to spread the gospel of food 
F. O. B. the kitchen door. Just as the 
army which has fought for justice, 
decency, and our civilization will see 
to it that these principles are main- 
tained in every part of the world, so 
the soldiers of the soil in the city, 
town and village, millions of whom 
have tested the worth of war garden- 
ing, will be its future champions and 
defenders. 

In planting our Victory Gardens we 
must be duly mindful of the national 
and international needs rather than 
having regard merely to our individual 
requirements. In our gardens we 
must try to produce substitutes for 
things which must be shipped abroad, 
such as wheat, meat, sugar and fats. 

As substitutes for meat, peas and 
beans have especial worth. So great 
is the food value of beans that they 
have occupied prominent place in the 
dietary of the Allied armies. Potatoes 
are the big savers of cereals. Their 
use makes it possible to get along 
with less bread. Six ounces of pota- 
toes enable the saving of one and one- 
half ounces of flour. The potato, 
therefore, occupies a position of great 
importance in the suitable cultivation 
of slacker land Victory Gardens. The 
town gardener will do well this year 
to try to raise a part or all of his own 
potatoes. 

Sweet potatoes and fruits are the 
great sugar savers, and for this reason 
it is of especial importance that we 
raise all the sweet potatoes that can 
be grown in our gardens and that we 
make the best use of all our fruit. 

When the war garden first began 
to take its place in the realm of food 



production there was a tendency to 
look slightingly upon this source of 
food supply. It was thought that 
what the city and town farmer could 
produce would be but a drop in the 
bucket. The critics, however, had not 
counted on the immense number in 
which the new army of the soil would 
mobilize. They had not figured on the 
vast unused acreage that would be put 
to work in the cities and towns. 

In this day of big things the small 
things are not to be ignored. This 
has been splendidly exemplified in the 
contribution to the world's food sup- 
ply by the home and community gar- 
dens of America. The 
Small financiers of the world now 
Things speak in billions where they 
Count formerly spoke in millions, 
while millions mean little 
more than thousands did a few years 
ago. The United States Government 
appropriated money by hundreds of 




^V^l-^- 



OUT-HOE THE HOE TO MAKE THINGS 
GROW 

millions for war purposes without a 
moment of hesitation, but it must 
not be forgotten that much of this 
was made possible by the innumerable 
little war-savings stamps, by pennies 



14 



collected at moving picture theatres 
and by other sources of income small 
in their individual items but massing 
large in their totals. 

In our gardens in backyards and on 
vacant lots it is not by the amount 
that any one of them may produce 
but by the sum total of the millions of 
small gardens that we reach the stu- 
pendous aggregate of food production 
which made 1918 memorable. The 
home food production idea spread like 
a vast wave over the entire nation. 
That it was a mighty factor in the 
proper feeding of the world is uni- 
versally recognized. The food pro- 
ducers have performed a service of 
inestimable value in holding off the 
war-time monster Famine and in re- 
moving his clutches from the throats 
of our European Allies. The Ameri- 
can soldiers of the soil responded 
valiantly to the emergency call sent 

out by their country. 
How They Answering the call to 
Answered "Keep the Home Soil 

Turning," they got 
out their rakes and their hoes, put 
on old shoes and clothing and 
went forth into the back yards and 
vacant lot to "Sow the Seeds of Vic- 
tory." They dug and raked and plant- 
ed in deadly earnest, with determina- 
tion to deal effective blows against the 
enemy with the "Machine Guns of the 
Garden," as the garden tools were 
popularly called by the National War 
Garden Commission. The slogan of 
this Commission played an important 
part in emphasizing the need for home 
food production. In addition to those 
just quoted there were many others 
which led to the enlistment* of addi- 
tional thousands in the ranks of the 
war garden army. "The Battle Cry 



of Feed 'Em" was supported by "Food 
Must Follow the Flag," and these 
were given impetus by "Let There Be 
No Slacker Land" and "Hoe and 
Rakes versus Hohenzollerns." 

Perhaps one of the most effective of 
the battle cries of the home garden 
army was "Every Garden a Munition 
Plant." This achieved widespread 
currency and became a popular phrase 
throughout the country after its cir- 
culation on the posters and in the 
publications and newspaper publicity 
of the Commission. Today its place 

has been taken by "Every 
Battle Garden a Peace Plant," 
Cries conveying the subtle sug- 

of the gestion that the need for 

Garden munition plants no longer 

exists but that the out- 
put of nature's workshops must in 
no wise be diminished because of 
changed conditions. Urgent behest is 
also given that the nation should make 
its war gardens become gardens of 
victory. Two of the new slogans for 
the season of 191 9 are "War Gardens 
over the Top." and "War Gardens 




MEMORIAL GARDENS FOR THE FALLEN 

HEROES WILL PROVE THAT THEY 

DID NOT DIE IN VAIN 



15 



Victorious," the purposes of which 
are obvious in this time when the vic- 
tory of peace is as vital as the victory 
of war. 

To give our Victory Gardens their 
full meaning let us make them also 
memorial gardens. In this way they 
will become a silent and creative trib- 
ute to our soldier and sailor dead. Let 
us put into our garden-making this 
touch of sentiment to afford recogni- 
tion of the sacrifice made by the gal- 
lant fighters who gave their lives in 
the cause of freedom. By this tribute 
let us give tangible support to their 
efforts in defense of the flag and 
prove that in our home trenches we 
are inspired by the same patriotic de- 
termination that made them face the 
foe with unflinching courage. Through 
their gallantry international Democ- 
racy was made possible. It must be 
through our labors of reconstruction 
that this condition may be made to 
endure. To fittingly express our grati- 
tude to our fallen fighters we can do 
nothing more useful, nothing of great- 
er worth, nothing which manifests a 
finer sentiment, than to cause our 
memorial gardens to do their share 
toward feeding a famished world, and 
thus write into the record of world 
Democracy the eternal truth that our 
fighters did not die in vain. 

Plans have been made by the Na- 
tional War Garden Commission for a 



bigger and more intensive campaign 
this year than was carried on last 
season. In order that results be ob- 
tained it is necessary to continue the 
preaching the lesson of food need. It 
is only by keeping the thought con- 
stantly before the minds of the peo- 
ple that they can be impressed suf- 
ficiently with the importance of the 
work. They must be reminded again 
and again, "lest they forget." In the 
press of other work, in the welcoming 
back of our soldiers — who deserve 
every tribute that can be paid them — 
and in the vast business of reconstruc- 
tion now occupying so much thought, 
it is essential to keep the home food 
production idea to the fore. This is 
being done. Everybody is urged to 
co-operate. 

One of the finest and most inspiring 
slogans which helped the American 
Army in the carrying through of some 
apparently impossible war tasks was — 
"It can't be done but we'll do it." Put 
that into effect in the home food cam- 
paign of 1919. 

All the world— that is, all the 
world worth mentioning — loves a 
winner. That is why it praises 
and honors the men who "do 
thing." 

Is it worth trying to reach that 
goal of 10,000,000 Victory Gardens? 
"It can't be done? Let's do it." 



16 



VICTORY GARDENING BY COMMUNITIES AND 
NEIGHBORHOODS 



THE best way to stimulate the 
planting and cultivation of 
Victory Gardens is through or- 
ganized eflfort. 

The tracts of vacant land in every 
city, town and village should be used 
for growing vegetables. To culti- 
vate these and make them add their 
contribution to the national food sup- 
ply is a duty that no community can 
afford to overlook. People who have 
no vacant land of their own should 
be encouraged to grow gardens for 
their own protection from the high 
cost of living and to help the general 
situation. Land owners should be 
glad to contribute the use of their 
property for this patriotic purpose. 
Community organization should bring 
gardener and land together. 

Co-operative gardening, through 
community organization, has many 
advantages. It enables gardeners to 
purchase supplies in large quantities 
and secure the benefit of wholesale 
rates. It makes it possible for ex- 
pert supervision to be provided. 
Where organized work is done it is 
possible to employ teams for plowing, 
which it not always convenient in the 
single small garden worked inde- 
pendently. One team will plow 
several gardens in a day, at slight 
cost to each gardener. 

Before a community can intelli- 
gently plan a garden campaign it must 
know how much land it has available 
for cultivation, the location and char- 
acter of the land, the kind and quan- 
tity of manures and fertilizers avail- 



able, the skilled directors it can secure 
and the probable number of garden- 
ers. To ascertain 
Organizing these facts an in- 

a Community ventory of the 
town's gardening 
resources for community v/ork should 
be taken. Such a survey can be made 
by existing agencies, or a special 
force can be created. 

If garden production is to be stimu- 
lated to its maximum possibility, it 
will be necessary to survey all the 
lands within the community, includ- 
ing private yards as well as vacant 
lots. Thus the project will become 
truly a -community affair. The Cham- 
ber of Commerce, the Board of Trade 
or the Civic Club is the nucleus for 
such an effort, but the School Board 
or a church or a political club, can 
just as effectively conduct the work. 

The first step should be to secure 
the co-operation of the local news- 
papers. The community must be 
made acquainted with the plan to put 
every foot of idle land to work. The 
movement may also be advertised at 
moving picture shows and on bulle- 
tin boards. 

A public meeting should be held to 
enlist interest and secure general co- 
operation. An eft'ort should be made 
to secure the attendance of the minis- 
ters, the school superintendent, the 
local officials, prominent civic work- 
ers, and club leaders. 

A survey force should be selected, 
with a leader and assistants, one for 



17 



each district in the community. The 
survey force itself can very well con- 
sist of the senior class in 
Survey ^^^ ^^S^ school, or a troop 
Force °^ ^^^ older Boy Scouts, 
or a Sunday School class. 
Finally a survey day should be chosen 
and well advertised. In preparation 
for the survey, large scale maps of 
the community should be procured 
which will show the different parcels 
of land. The high school drawing 
classes can well prepare such maps as 
part of their work. In larger cities 
district maps may be necessary. 

Whether the community is large or 
small, it will be necessary to divide it 
into districts for the survey. An as- 
sistant to the leader should be made 
responsible for each district. 

On the survey day the force of can- 
vassers should go out in twos, one to 
interview the land owner while the 
other examines the yard or lot. In 
preparation for the survey, cards 
should be printed, which the survey- 
ors are to fill in. On these cards 
should be recorded the following: 

1— Name, addreti, and telephone number of land 

owner. 
3— Whether land is a back yard or a vacant lot. 
3 — Location of plot. 
4 — Approximate area in square feet. 
$— Condition of the plot. 
6— Whether owner will cultivate it or rent or 

lend it. 
7— On what terms and conditions owner will rent 

or lei^d. 

The surveyors should also record, 
on other cards, the names, addresses, 
and telephone numbers of all who 
have manure available for fer- 
tilizer, the quantities available and 
the terms on which it can be had. 
Inquiry should also be made as to the 
amount and varieties of seed, tools 
and all oth^ suppHes required. The 
committee may buy outright and sell 

to the users at cost or it may make 



arrangements with dealers whereby 
the dealers will supply the individuals 
at reduced rates. 

When all the cards have been filled 
out and filed alphabetically, the sur- 
vey committee will be in possession 
of a complete card index of all the 
possible garden lands in the com- 
munity. Meantime, the committee can 
receive applications from those de- 
siring gardens, and assign conveni- 
ent plots as soon as arrangements can 
be made with the owners. 

Thus it should be possible to pro- 
vide with comparatively little diffi- 
culty for the working of every foot 
of available garden land. 

To insure maximum production 
there should be co-operation in the 
gardening itself. In every town may 




SPREAD THE GOSPEL OF FOOD NEEDS 

be found retired farmers or other 
experienced vegetable growers, or 
perhaps a county agricultural agent 
is available. Arrangements should 
be made to have some such person 
give supervision and instructions as 
to selecting the crops best suited to 
the soil and the details of planting 
and cultivation. If such supervision 



18 



is not available it is desirable to raise 
a fund to hire a school garden super- 
visor or other skilled gardener to de- 
vote such time as needed to oversee- 
ing the work. In many cases agri- 
cultural college students will doubt- 
less volunteer their services. 

Under supervision thus provided 
the lots should be plowed, manured 
and made ready for seeding. Many 
amateur gardeners do not know how 
to make a seed bed properly and 
such supervision will prevent many 
disappointments. Where possible the 
cost of supervision should be paid 
out of a general fund raised by the or- 
ganization in charge. If this is not 
feasible the gardeners should pay in 
proportion to the size of their plots. 

The supervision should extend over 
the entire gardening season. Timely 
advice will prevent gardeners from 
planting vegetables in soil unsuited 
to them, and show the gardeners 
how to cultivate the different crops 
properly and safeguard 
them from drought, in- 
sects and diseases. 

Neighbors in any sec- 
tion of a city, town or 
village may work to- 
gether to excellent ad- 
vantage, even if there is 
no central organization 
to direct their work. 
The first essential is 
that some person should 
arouse the interest of 
the various families and 
secure their co-opera- 
tion. The number of 
families should be de- 
termined by the size of 
the available land. In al- 



most, every neighborhood a vacant 
tract will be found which will serve 

the purpose of 
Neighborhood several households. 
Gardens Land owners 

should consider it 
their patriotic duty to allow idle 
property to be cultivated for the 
sake of increasing the national 
food supply and those who wish 
to cultivate gardens should not 
hesitate to ask the privilege. If 
the land cannot be secured free of 
charge a small rental may be paid 
without seriously interfering with the 
success of the project. In selecting 
land be sure that it has convenient 
water supply, as an abundance of 
water is essential to a good garden. 
After enlisting the active interest 
of a number of gardeners, the leader 
should place the matter before the 
owner of the tract of land desired. 
A definite statement that the garden- 
ers are ready to do their work will 
have its influence. 





t« 2t2FEtT M 








w 
t 

< 
1 


-40FEET— 1 

J 
J 

L 

! 


-2 FEET r—^ 




















1- 

u> 
ttJ 

Ik 
« 


























• 












_ _.j 



AN ARRANGEMENT FOR A COMMUNITY OR NEIGH- 
BORHOOD GARDEN. ALL ROWS SHOULD RUN 
IN ONE GENERAL DIRECTION. 



19 



A good plan is to divide the land 
into lots 60 feet long and 40 feet wide. 
Each lot should be 
Suggested surrounded by a two- 
Type of ^oot path, to give pas- 

Plot sage way for garden- 

ers whose plots are 
away from the outer boundaries. In 
the diagram which appears on page 
17 is illustrated a good type of ar- 
rangement for dividing the land. The 
plot there shown is 212 feet long and 
188 feet wide. It contains 39,856 
square feet, slightly less than an acre. 
It affords room for 15 garden plots. 
Each plot should be numbered. Plots 
may be assigned to individual gar- 
deners by drawing numbers. When a 
plot has been assigned it must be 
remembered that for garden purposes 
it belongs to the person or family to 
whom allotted. 

The group of gardeners should be 
organized just as any other associa- 
tion is organized, with its executive 



head and directing committees. This 
organization should be effected as 

early as possible. The 
Organize executive head should 
Your have general supervi- 

Gardenera sion of the work and 

should therefore, if pos- 
sible, be some person who is familiar 
with gardening. Committees should 
arrange for purchasing seed, ferti- 
lizers and other necessary sup- 
plies. By handling this through a 
committee lower prices will be ob- 
tained than if the gardeners buy inde- 
pendently. The committee may buy 
outright after procuring from each 
gardener the funds for paying his 
share or an agreement to pay for it on 
delivery ; or it may arrange with deal- 
ers to supply each member at reduced 
cost. The co-operative spirit in the 
purchase of tools and in using them 
will save money. The same sprayers 
and garden hose may be used by 
all. 



SUMMARY OF ORGANIZED GARDENING. 



Summed up some of the important 
steps in Community or Neighborhood 
gardening are these: 

1. Enlist gardeners. 

In community work this mij be done 
through the central body having charge 
of the community work, with the co- 
operation of the newspapers and other 
publicity. In neighbornood work it 
should be done through personal effort. 

One or more meetings should be held 
at a central place, to stimulate and 
maintain interest and to instruct the gar- 
deners, through lectures, on the details 
of their work. In the public library all 
literature on gardening should be with- 
drawn from circulation and set aside for 
the use of the gardeners. 

2. Procure land. 

Learn what land is available and se- 
cure permission for its use. 

3. Arrange for supplies of manure, 
commercial fertilizers, seed and 
implements. 



A committee should get prices in large 
lots and buy for all or should arrange 
with dealers to supply to individual 
members at reduced price. 

4. Prepare for planting. 

Remove stones and burn rubbish. 
Spread manure over ground to be plowed. 

5. Plow land, harrow and prepare 
for seeding. 

Secure farmers or skilled plowmen and 
teams. Plowing will make a better seed- 
bed than can be made by hand and will 
save much labor with spade and rake. 
The cost should be paid proportionately 
by each gardener or from a general fund, 
if available. 

6. Lay off land into gardens. 

The city, town or village engineer may 
be willing to do this without charge. 

7. Assign individual garden plots to 
gardeners. 

On the day on which gardeners are 
present to receive assignments have fer- 
tilizers on hand, if bought by committee, 
and distribute them to the gardeners, 
collecting from each the cost of his share. 



20 



If the individuals buy their own thejr 
should have the supply on hand at thia 
time. (For the use of fertilizers and 
manures consult thia Commission's book 
"War Gardening.") 

8. Plant seed. 

Planting days should be arranged. 
Saturday afternoon ia a good time for 
this Have everybody on hand and have 
the planting done under instructions 
from experienced gardeners. The in- 
structors should guide inexperienced gar- 
deners in the selection of crops and aa 
to the proper time for planting. 

9. Cultivate. 

Frequent cultivation ia important to 
keep soil loose and free from weeds. 

10. Take care to prevent theft and 
vandalism. 

In community work the Boy Scouta 
have been found extremely useful in 



protecting crops from persons who would 
take or destroy vegetables. 

11. Harvest. 

12. Clean up for next year. 

Important and should not be neglected. 

13. Secure reports as to cost and 
yield of each garden. 

Each gardener should keep a record 
of his expenditures, the hours of work 
put in and the value of crops raised, 
figured at market prices. 

For full instructions in Gardening 
consult this Commission's Book "War 
Gardening," which may be had on 
application. 



VICTORY GARDENING BY CORPORATIONS 



THE post-war need for enlarged 
garden production offers to the 
corporations of America an op- 
portunity, through the encouragement 
of gardening among their employes, 
not only to be of help to the nation, 
but also to benefit themselves. The 
employe who can be induced to be- 
come a gardener becomes straightway 
a more worthwhile employe. 

The contented v/orker is usually one 
who enjoys a comfortable living; and 
gardening, by virtually adding to the 
employe's income and providing him 
with better food than he can buy in 
the market, tends to make him con- 
tented. Money that would otherwise 
have to be spent for food can be used 
for the purchase of small luxuries. 
Of no less value is the recreational 
feature of gardening. The toiler in 
a noisy mill, or the worker in a smoky 
forge or foundry can find no avoca- 
tion that will build him up physically 
and refresh his energies as gardening 
will. - Duty to both the nation and his 
own corporation demands that every 
corporation manager should do his 



utmost to stimulate gardening among 
his employes. 

The Pennsylvania Railroad, for ex- 
ample, began its garden campaign as 
soon as America became a belligerent. 
Along its right of way lie great tracts 
of land suitable for vegetable pro- 
duction. These tracts were offered 
to employes in small plots at a purely 
nominal rental. Among those who 
embraced the opportunity thus offered 
were many men who had little or no 
knowledge of gardening. The rail- 
road took a census of its prospective 
gardeners and secured several thou- 
sand of the the National War Garden 
Commission's manual on gardening, 
placing one in the hands of each gar- 
dener. So successful was the work 
that in 191 8 the movement was widely 
extended and for 1919 it will be on a 
still greater scale. 

Among those who will take an active 
part in stirring up Victory Gardening 
in 1919 are the agricultural agents of 
the United States Railroad Adminis- 
tration. J. L. Edwards, who is in 
general charge of this branch of the 



21 



service, has called on the regional 
directors and the supervisors of agri- 
culture of the differ- 
ent lines, to give this 
work their careful 
attention ; and as a 
result, the agents 
the Commission of 
their desire and readiness to help 
in the work. Typical of replies 
received by the Commission is that 
from B. F. Bush, regional direc- 
tor, Southwestern Region, who says, 



Government 

Railroad 

Co-operation 

have notified 




UNITED WE GROW AND FEED THE WORLD 

"I wish to state that the railroads in 
the Southwestern Region will again do 
everything they possibly can in per- 
mitting their right-of-way and other 
station grounds to be used for farming 
and agricultural purposes ;" and from 
N. D. Maher, regional director, Poca- 
hontas Region, who says : "We will 
have our agricultural agents co-operate 
with you in connection with spreading 
the message of Food F.O.B.the Kitch- 
en Door. There is no doubt that, with 
all the poeple to be fed in Europe, the 
Victory Gardens are as important as 
the War Gardens." The railroads 
actively supported the War Garden 



campaign ; they will assist equally the 
Victory Garden campaign. 

The worker in the steel mill or iron 
foundry will derive physical benefit 

from outdoor work. 
Benefit Many such workers are 
^Q ignorant of the princi- 

Workers pies of gardening. Such 

a concern can with 
profit engage the services of a skilled 
agricultural agent or gardener to de- 
liver a course of lectures to the men. 
A small library of gardening books 
can be provided and circulated among 
the prospective gardeners. Finally 
land can be provided and prepared for 
the actual gardening, for practically 
every large industrial corporation has 
great areas of land not in use. 

The United States Steel Corpora- 
tion has offered prizes to those of its 
men making the best showing as gar- 
deners. These prizes were open to 
competition for employes in the var- 
ious mills. The manager of the mill 
at Farrell, Pa., set aside a considerable 
tract of company land in order that 
his men might enter this competition, 
and the manager of another subsidiary 
mill secured vacant land easily acces- 
sible. The men were also assisted by 
having the land plowed and prepared 
for seeding. 

The American Rolling Mill Com- 
pany of Middletown, Ohio, promotes 
gardening among its employes through 
its "mutual interest department," and 
has provided the land for the gardens 
and held exhibits at which prizes were 
awarded for the best products. In 
similar fashion it has encouraged the 
wives of workers to conserve the gar- 
den excess, by offering generous prizes 
for the best canned products. 



22 



Probably no set of industrial work- 
ers will gain larger benefit from gar- 
dening than miners — 

Miners "^^" "^^^ spend most 

0^ of their working 

Gardeners hours below the sur- 
face of the ground. 
The Inspiration Consolidated Cop- 
per Company of Inspiration, Ari- 
zona, turned its workers into gar- 
deners in the face of seemingly in- 
surmountable difficulties. Its land 
was among the mountains at an 
elevation of 3,300 feet. The region 
was arid. Its employes were cosmo- 
politan. Few of them spoke English, 
while fewer still knew anything about 
gardening. Yet the company turned 
217 acres into gardens for them, first 
drilling five artesian wells to supply 
the water necessary for the irrigation. 
Bulletins were printed in many lan- 
guages and conspicuously posted, to 
inform the workers of the rules gov- 
erning the gardening enterprise. A 
garden expert from the Arizona Agri- 
cultural Station was engaged by the 
company to make regular visits to the 
gardens to instruct the men. The 
double crop system was employed, so 
that as soon as one crop had been har- 
vested another was started. Noth- 
ing was permitted to go to waste, and 
the food which could not be used at 
once was dried or canned or sold in 
the market established by the company 
for the sale of excess products. The 
company itself did the selling. 

One of the well-known manufac- 
turing corporations which have 
backed the garden movement of em- 
ployes is the General Electric Com- 
pany at Schenectady, N. Y. When 
its employes were questioned as to 
the gardening movement, 1,500 of 



them expressed a desire to cultivate 
gardens. The company provided a 
sixty-acre tract of good river bottom 
land which it owned, and plowed and 
prepared it for seeding, apportion- 
ing the land in small parcels. At 
Meriden, Conn., the employes of 
Foster, Merriam & Company each 
had plots 50 x 100 feet in size, on 
which they produced 1,000 bushels 
of potatoes alone, not to mention 
quantities of other products. In this 
case the company secured the seeds 
and fertilizers in quantity and allowed 
the men to pay on easy terms. 

Among other industrial concerns 
which have aided the gardening move- 
ment are the Oliver Chilled Plow 
Company, which has a large acreage 
of gardens near its plant at South 
Bend, Ind. ; the Brown & Sharpe Com- 
pany, more than 500 of whose em- 
ployes are helping to feed themselves 
on the products of the community 
garden which the company leases and 
plows for them at Pleasant Valley, 
in Providence, R. I. ; the New De- 
parture Manufacturing Company, of 
Bristol, Conn. ; the M. B. Schenck 
Company, of Meriden, Conn. ; the 
Delaware & Hudson Coal Company 
and the N. E. Tillotson Manufactur- 
ing Company, the J. E. and C. H. 
Wilson Manufacturing Company, and 
Eaton, Crane & Company, all of Pitts- 
field, Mass. 

Many banks, business houses, and 
other concerns have joined in the 
movement to put the "slacker" land 
to work. A few banks have organ- 
ized bank gardens, which are to be 
operated by the employes and from 
every section of the United States 
banks are writing to the National 
War Garden Commission for its 



23 



manual on gardening with the in- 
tention of distributing this manual to 

their customers. 
Banks ^"^ obstacle to the 

Fight complete success of the 

Slacker "pl^"t ^ garden" move- 
Land ment has hitherto been 

the fact that many work- 
ing men could not find the time to care 
for gardens. But the daylight saving 
law removes this obstacle. By starting 
work one hour earlier in the morning, 
the worker will now have an hour 



more of leisure time in the afternoon ; 
and this hour can be put to no better 
use than the production of food. 

In a number of cases the mana- 
gers or superintendents of corpora- 
tions have become fellow workers 
with their employes in the company 
gardens. This contact with the men 
has been of great advantage. The 
sympathetic understanding so gained 
has helped in the solution of execu- 
tive problems later on. 



COMMUNITY CANNING AND DRYING 



fipiHE Community plan of work 
I should also be applied to food 
conservation for winter use 
through canning and drying. In 
general the scheme of organiza- 
tion followed in garden work may 
be adapted to cannnig and drying 
operations by communities and neigh- 
borhoods. On a small scale two or 
more families may work together in 
the home of one of them, with equip- 
ment bought jointly. This reduces the 
cost to each household. On a larger 
scale a neighborhood may organize 
and establish a canning or drying cen- 
ter with equipment bought by volun- 
tary contribution and with a committee 
to manage details of its use. An en- 
tire community may work to excellent 
advantage along this line, with one 
or more centers established in school 
houses, store rooms or other places 
having facilities for heat and water. 
For community organization the work 
can be best conducted through the 
\, Chamber of Commerce or other civic 



organization, as in community gar- 
dening. 




THE SUMMER AND FALL SHOULD BRING 
CANNING AND DRYING ACTIVI- 
TIES ON A LARGE SCALE 

The National War Garden Com- 
mission issues bulletins explaining in 
detail the plans of organization. One 
of these bulletins deals with canning 
operations and the other with drying. 
These may be had free upon request. 



mS,^ °^ CONGRESS 






>*1 




After J, N. Darling, in New York Tribuxw. 



NATIONAL WAR GARDEN COMMISSION 

A Patriotic Organization Affiliated with the Conservation Department 

of the American Forestry Association 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 



Charles Lathrop Pack, President. 

Percival S. Ridsdale, Secretary. Norman C. McLoud, Associate Secretary. 

Luther Burbank, Calif. Dr. John Grier Hibben, N. J. 

Dr. Charles W. Eliot, Mass. Emerson McMillin, N. Y. 

Dr. Irving Fisher, Conn. Charles Lathrop Pack, N. J. 

Fred H. Goff, Ohio. A. W. Shaw, 111. 

John Hays Hammond, Mass. Mrs. John Dickinson Sherman, 111. 

Fairfax Harrison, Va. Capt. J. B. White, Mo. 

Hon. Myron T. Herrick, Ohio. Hon. James Wilson, Iowa. 

P. P. Claxton, U. S. Commissioner of Education. 



.7 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



DDDmEflflDaa 



A 



